1621

1621 was a year in the early 17th century marked by ongoing European religious and political conflict and expanding colonial activity. In the Netherlands and the wider European arena, the Twelve Years’ Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Habsburgs expired in 1621, leading to the resumption of the Eighty Years’ War. This renewed fighting occurred within the broader context of the Thirty Years’ War, which was reshaping alliances and power in Central Europe and beyond.

In North America, the Plymouth Colony celebrated its harvest with a feast that is commonly cited as the first Thanksgiving in what would become the United States. The gathering, which involved Plymouth colonists and members of the Wampanoag Confederacy, has become a symbolic milestone in American historical memory, though Indigenous perspectives on the event are diverse and complex.

Globally, 1621 continued the era of early modern empires, with European powers expanding Atlantic trade networks and establishing or reinforcing settlements and posts in the Americas and other regions. The year sits within a pattern of exploration, colonization, and conflict that shaped regional histories and laid groundwork for longer-term imperial and commercial rivalries.

Overall, 1621 reflects the mix of armed conflict, transatlantic colonization, and intercultural contact that characterized the early 17th century in Europe, the Atlantic world, and the colonial projects that would influence global history in the centuries to follow.